It looks like after nearly four years with no budget, Senate Democrats may finally decide to create one and perhaps even vote on it. But indications are that their budget is likely to avoid the spending cuts that are needed to put our fiscal house in order and will instead return to demanding ever more tax increases.

According to Roll Call, “Three weeks ago, incoming Senate Budget Chairman Patty Murray, D-Wash., directed her staff to explore the pros and cons of actually crafting a budget resolution. . . . So when she tasked her staff to weigh the relative benefits of developing a budget, the major question she posed was whether the formal budget process was the best vehicle for Senate Democrats to ‘aggressively articulate a vision while putting us potentially on a path to bring this fiscal-debt-deficit debate to a close,’ one source said. Some sources familiar with the process said the hammering Democrats have taken for not producing a budget in more than 1,000 days did not factor into the decision, but at least one senior Democratic aide said the GOP barrage was one of three major reasons for Senate Democrats’ change of heart on the matter. . . . The other major factor, of course, was political. Senate Democratic leaders’ highest priority through 2012 was maintaining their majority as they faced what they and others believed was going to be a bruising election cycle. A budget resolution is a nonbinding measure, and leaders did not want their vulnerable members to unnecessarily cast politically risky votes in the budget ‘vote-a-rama’ that typically accompanies the Senate debate.”

Meanwhile, Politico reports that Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the number three Democrat in the Senate, is spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to push even more tax hikes, including in a budget process.

Related:

Rasmussen Reports: 30% Think More Tax Hikes Needed

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